In many industries, such as the oil and gas industry, or other related industries, such as the fuel distribution industry, there is a need to block an opening, such as an opening in a pipe of a fuel tank, to prevent unauthorized access to the fuel tank. Currently, such storage tanks include a filling pipe to which a filling tube is attachable for refuelling the tank. When the tank is not refilled, there is a need to protect the opening of the pipe so that unauthorized people cannot access this opening (in order to steal the gas, contaminate the same, etc.).
In currently existing caps for such pipe openings, the cap is typically fixed to the pipe and a lock is secured to the cap so as to prevent an unauthorized person from removing the cap from the pipe. However, the locks that are typically used are relatively easy to break. In addition, such locks are exposed to water infiltration and therefore are prone to rust. Also, when an authorized person needs to access the pipe, there is a need to locate the key corresponding to the given lock. If the key is not readily available, there is a loss of time looking for the key and/or in trying to break the lock. In this latter case, a replacement lock has to be provided, which is undesirable because it represents additional costs and additional waste of time.
Although the above example relates to the fuel distribution industry, there are also many other industries where there is the need to block an opening in a pipe so that access by unauthorized people is prevented.
Known to the Applicant are the following US patents which describe various security caps and the like for closing and open end of a pipe: U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,549 (WILSON et al., 1973); U.S. Pat. No. 4,351,446 (MADDEN, 1982); U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,309 (TIMMONS, 1995); U.S. Pat. No. 6,003,558 (NETO et al., 1999); U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,709 (BURGESS, 2000) and U.S. Pat. No. 7,134,454 B2 (MONTMINY, 2006).
Most of the caps disclosed in these US patents have the disadvantage to include complex mechanisms that may be partially or fully in contact with the atmosphere or with the solvent present in the tank closed by the cap, and therefore are prone to rust and mechanism jamming. Furthermore, most of the caps disclosed in these US patents require a pulling action of a component along a longitudinal axis of the cap in order to activate the latches into a disengaged configuration, which may be difficult when some other components of the mechanism are rusted or jammed, for the reasons described above. Furthermore, in most of the above-mentioned security caps, the latches thereof are engaged with a corresponding groove of the pipe via a pivotal movement which, in some cases, requires an additional and substantial effort through a pulling action of the complex mechanisms of the security cap in order to disengage the security cap from the open end of the pipe. Additionally, and in most of the caps disclosed in the above-mentioned US patents, the latches of the security caps are exposed, thereby also making them more prone to rust and/or jamming, as well as vandalism and/or breakage, which is also very undesirable.
Hence, in light of the aforementioned, there is a need for an improved device, which by virtue of its design and components, would be able to overcome some of the above-discussed prior art problems, and/or at the very least would be able to address some of the above-discussed concerns.